George

If you’re like me, you’ve probably been hankering for a good comet cocktail lately. The last one we had was, what, five months ago, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Feeling that it was high time for another high time, the indefatigable Nicola Wolf and I set out last night to visit Oxalis Restaurant and Bar, in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans.

Here’s a picture of the place:

Nicola pointed out that before it opened as Oxalis half a year ago, the location was used as the restaurant setting in the HBO show Treme. Now it’s a real restaurant, with real good food.

(Oxalis, Nicola also told me, is a plant that grows like crazy in New Orleans. Also known as wood sorrel, it was used by the Algonquin Indians as an aphrodisiac. See how much you can learn by drinking?)

I cornered the bartender and showed her a postcard image of my famous novel, THE NIGHT OF THE COMET:

“See here,” I said, following my usual routine. “Can you make a drink like this?”

“Let me think about it for a minute,” said the bartender, whose name was Jesi.

She turned around and peered at the wall of bottles, a finger on her lips. Then, inspired, she nabbed a barback and told him to go get some blueberries, quick.

Here she is at work:

She’s a little blurry because she moves so fast.

Jesi Goodwin, by the way, is a local gal who comes to New Orleans from Madisonville, near Mandeville. She’s been tending bar at Oxalis since it opened.

When she’s not working, she enjoys table tennis, roller skating, and bridge.

Her favorite music is classic rock of the 70s, and her favorite actor is Edward G. Robinson. Ah! Thank god, the drink’s ready:

It was an excellent comet cocktail. And look at the color! On top of a mash of fresh blueberries, she poured Corsair Triple Smoke Whiskey, lemon juice, chocolate mole bitters, and egg white. It’s a variation of “your basic blueberry scotch sour,” Jesi explained. Who even knew there was such a thing?

She said to be sure to take a picture of the whiskey, because that was the key to the whole drink.

When we finished that, she gave us, as a present, two frothy shots of nitrogen-infused Ramos Gin Fizz. Those were super good. If you never ate or drank anything else for the rest of your life but nitrogen-infused Ramos Gin Fizz, you’d be one very happy drunk.

And here, finally, is a picture of what the bar looks like when your face is on it:

Merci beaucoup, Jesi at Oxalis! See you again!